The Grand Historic Hotel Vancouver will host the Arrival Agency’s New Year’s Eve bash. The event will take over a full floor of the hotel, with five rooms featuring a variety of different vibes. Music acts range from a house band lead by The New Pornographers’ Kurt Dahl to sets by Redbull Freestyle Award winning DJ Hedspins.Tom Nugent

New Year’s Eve can be a stressful event — you’ve just spent the last two weeks gorging on Christmas goodies and now you’re supposed to stuff yourself into fancy clothes and dance the night away. Thankfully, you’ve still got a wide range of options in all shapes and sizes.

When the revamped Waldorf Hotel closed down on Jan. 20 following a dispute with the building’s owners, the city lost a burgeoning cultural hub. But the team behind some of the city’s most innovative parties wouldn’t stay down.

Rebranded as the Arrival Agency, they had a hand in this summer’s Khatsahlano Music and Arts Festival and are now busy renovating Main Street’s Fox Theatre.

Despite their busy schedule, they couldn’t let a year pass without once again leaving their creative mark on the biggest party night of the year. But not just any venue would do.

“We also noticed that for New Year’s people wanted to be in a place like a hotel, some place that felt special and outside of the city,” says Arrival Agency co-owner and designer Daniel Fazio.

The Hotel Vancouver, with its soaring ceilings and massive chandeliers, was their first choice.

“We sat down with the team there and it turns out they were very receptive,” Fazio says. “We did a tour around the building, looking at the spaces and our imaginations just started running wild. The interiors at the Hotel Vancouver are unlike anything else in the city. It is unparalleled.”

The event will take over a full floor of the hotel, with five rooms featuring a variety of different vibes. Music acts range from a house band lead by The New Pornographers’ Kurt Dahl to sets by Redbull Freestyle Award winning DJ Hedspins. Up-and-coming DJ Kyle Hall will be flying in from Detroit for the evening.

As with the Waldorf, it was important to Fazio that this party would include a space for visual art. Governor General Award winning multimedia artist Paul Wong will be programming a room that will act as a chill-out space.

“We want people to come up and wander around and feel like they’re discovering new experiences in every room,” Fazio says. “Every room can’t just be a New Year’s Eve party room.”

Special VIP packages are also available that include dinner and champagne.

Here are a few more options in order of price and level of swankiness:

Warm up for your wild evening with the most laid back man in town, the Dude himself. Arguably the Coen Bros most popular creation, The Big Lebowski has everything you need to work off the New Year’s nerves — love, sex, intrigue, friendship, murder, and a rug that really brings the room together.

Little ones can’t make it to midnight? Mount Seymour is offering an evening of entertainment for the whole family capped off with an early countdown at 9 p.m. Activities include tobogganing and tubing or just cozying by two custom made fire pits with s’mores and hot apple cider. Clowns and light spinning will keep the evening interesting.

If you prefer to party like it’s 1964, this is the event for you. This is the sixth annual New Year’s event for the Ice Cream Social, Vancouver’s hippest celebration of 50s and 60s rock, pop and swing featuring DJs Tyler Fedchuk, Cam Dales, Trevor Risk, and Justin Gradin. The Biltmore’s dark wood and velvet-lined booths provide an intimate, cosy atmosphere. All that and free champagne at midnight for a relatively reasonable price.

Now in its sixth year, One Night Stand has become a New Year’s ritual for the city’s indie rock scene. Members of Mother Mother, Said the Whale, Yukon Blonde, Belle Game, Brasstronaut and more make up a super band that will keep partiers dancing to their favourite songs all night long at the historic Rickshaw Theatre. The band even takes requests if you let them know what you want on Twitter.

Rumour has it, Rich Hope is trouble. And don’t you want to spend the most glamorous evening of the year with someone just a little bit dangerous? Once again at East Van’s Wise Hall, the blues guitarist and His Evil Doers will headline a show alongside burlesque dancers The Razzle Tassel Tease Show and DJ Thee Swinging Creeper. Funny man Paul Anthony, lauded most promising newcomer by the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame, will host the night. Admission includes nibbles from The Reef and a champagne toast at midnight.

This party features two floors of entertainment plus a whole extra floor for VIPs (people who’ve spent a bunch more money on tickets). Expect DJs spinning house, progressive, hip hop and trap, as well as contortionists and circus performers.

Think the world could use a little more metal? Want to party like tomorrow is the end of the world? Want to set the stage for a hard rockin’ year by spending New Year’s in spandex and leather? Want to do several other unsavoury things referred to in songs by pseudo-satirical metal act Steel Panther? The Commodore is the place.

If you’re the type that thinks New Year’s Eve should be the glitziest night of the year, then this gala is the place to be. Hop on the Midnight Express and find all the glamour of the 1920s performed to a top 40 soundtrack. There’ll also be a dessert buffet and a Belgian chocolate fountain. Absolutely no T-shirts or sneakers allowed. Baz Luhrmann would be thrilled. Don’t forget a food or monetary donation for the Food Bank.

Party with 1,100 people at the weirdest building in town. Overlooking False Creek, the Telus World of Science has been home to one of the fanciest New Year’s Eve parties. No sneakers! No Ed Hardy! No hoodies! And, as TLC so wisely said, absolutely no scrubs.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Saskatoon loves its Christmas lights. The Enchanted Forest draws thousands of vehicles each week. The late Bob Hinitt worked for months building his light display, which drew thousands of cars each year to Wiggins Avenue. And Scott Lambie on Clinkskill Drive has continued the tradition with more than 70,000 dancing lights (up from 50,000 last […]

When it comes to gift giving, they say it’s the thought that counts. But many are wondering if Mayor Drew Dilkens was thinking at all when he gave Olympic superstar Michael Phelps — whose battles with booze are well known — a big bottle of Canadian Club whisky.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.